Thank you for your support this year

Just about every cliché has been used to describe how 2020 has impacted on every aspect of all our lives and at Malawi Schools Trust, we’ve had our fair share of frustrations as well as delights in the form of unexpected kindness from our wonderful supporters.

Like many charities, we’ve found it difficult to fundraise in the normal way and it’s also been challenging to get resources out to Malawi.  However, we have seen some progress and this newsletter offers a little catch up on what’s been happening in the UK and Malawi.

We are also very aware that however this year has shaped up in the UK, our friends in Malawi have had it tougher and they need our help more than ever.

So, a huge thank you to our private donors and organisations who are helping to continue our work – we simply couldn’t do it without you!

With best wishes,

from all of us at Malawi Schools Trust
news@malawischoolstrust.org

Sadly, children as young as 14, and mostly girls, have looked to marriage as an alternative and in the last few months, we have heard that this has happened in both of the schools we support.  We learned that five girls were married over the summer and one is already pregnant.

Two of these girls were persuaded to return to school when the schools reopened in October and the girl who is pregnant has said she would like to return after her baby is born. So far, we don’t have any news of the other two.

We know children in Malawi will have the best chance of a better life, for themselves, their families and wider communities if they can complete their education.

As life begins to return to normal, we’re determined to continue our support for Mikuyu Senior School.

It was wonderful to have some good news to end this year, when the first consignment of textbooks, donated by Farnham Rotary were delivered to Mikuyu Senior School.

Michael Atkinson, from Rotary explained why they chose to support this project:

We know education can transform the lives of children in the world’s poorest countries, but it’s often difficult to know exactly how to help. Because Malawi Schools Trust works in direct partnership with the school, we were able to get an exact list of the books that were needed. The reassurance that our donation will have a real, direct and lasting impact is really important to us.

A further 500 euros has just been donated from the Rotary Club in Wetter, Germany which will be used for the second consignment.

The order will be placed when we have agreed with the teachers exactly what books they need, and we hope to get the next consignment on the way soon.

The books will be housed in the new school library, on shelves constructed by a team of students from Mikuyu Senior School and Frensham Heights and who visited in Summer 2019.

We’d love to supply some solar panels for this building which will allow students to study in the evenings and may eventually enable internet access too.

We were thrilled to get a little press coverage too with an article in the Farnham Herald on 3 December 2020. You can read it on our website.

Support from Frensham Heights

We were delighted when Frensham Heights School chose Malawi Schools Trust to be their charity in September.

Miles to Malawi
Usual fundraising activities have been hampered by covid restrictions, but they have just started working creatively within their year group bubbles to cover the distance from Frensham Heights to Malawi by the end of February 2021 while raising some sponsorship money along the way.

Children in Year 4 have already covered over 30 miles and one senior school class is leading the way on 500 miles, helped by a few avid cyclists among the staff and students.

Cookie Sales
Some students have been busy baking cookies during their lunch hours and sold them to their friends at breaktimes, with £200 raised already.

Christmas Trees
A further £400 was raised by the school earlier this month through the sale and delivery of Christmas trees. Many thanks to Lynn and Sabine who spent a whole Saturday delivering some festive magic!

Thank you to all at Frensham Heights – keep up the good work!

Menstruation Project